Marty Lurie Talks San Francisco Giants Baseball
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Five Game Series Is just That


The division series is a five gamer, nothing more, nothing less.

Once the regular season ends, baseball changes the rules.

Welcome to the party. Five intense games, the winners go to the next round, the losers go home, thanks for playing our game.

Which teams can run through this gauntlet without falling apart?

What do you need to be successful?

Click below for more!First of all one needs at least two starting pitchers that can go deep into the ball game.

A four man bull pen that can work its way through the mine fields popping up from the seventh inning forward.

Next an offense that won’t be blinded by the bright lights generated by a national television audience.

A fundamentally sound ball club that can field the ball.

A big bopper who can carry the team and some players who know how to manufacture a run when the game is on the line.

Finally a manager that really can manage like it is the seventh game of a world series, not holding back when it is time to take charge of the game.

Now the games!

The White Sox have the starting pitching. Problem for the Sox is the starters have gotten hit hard by Boston this season.

The key man is Jose Contreras paid 32 million by the Yankees to beat the Red Sox. Irony is now he is with Chicago trying to do what The Boss paid him to do when Contreras defected from Cuba.

He melted down at the sight of the BoSox when he was a pinstriper, will he be different now?

Contreras is the hottest pitcher on the Chicago staff and will have to pitch games one and five if it goes that far.

The White Sox bull pen relies on a closer, Bobby Jenks who has never pitched in this situation before.

Heck he made his big league debut this summer.

Yet there is something refreshing about this team led by outspoken manager Ozzie Guillen.

My guess is in a real back and forth series that Boston will score too many runs and the White Sox will go down in four games.

Bull pen meltdowns will be the order of the day in this series.

Keys for the Red Sox: David Wells again showing he is a big game pitcher. Jon Papelbon throwing the seventh and the eighth for Boston.

The Sox must win two at home. Big Papi and Manny have to carry the not so hot, believe me it isn’t what it used to be, offense.

This one could be the prime upset that the fans will be waiting for, but the White Sox will have to play perfect baseball for it to happen. Can Scott Podsednik and Tadahito Iguchi knock Boston out?

Probably not, but they can scare the heck out of the Red Sox Nation.

The Angels have overachieved with an offense that struggles to score runs. Bartolo Colon was knocked around big time by the Yankees at the Stadium in May.

The Yankees starting pitching comprised of injury prone Mike Mussina, Shawn Chacon, The Big Unit, and Chien Ming Wang can hold the fort until the hitters get loose.

The only problem I see here is the soft middle relief core of the Yanks.

If the Angels get into the Yankees middle relief too often it could get sticky.

Chone Figgins did not have a good playoff in 2004. He was the team co MVP this year with Colon. Figgins needs to get hot and be a thorn to the Yankees for the Halos to have any chance.

I don’ t think Figgins is that kind of player at this time in his career. Vlad won’t see a pitch to hit for the entire series. Garret Anderson will see pitches to hit, but he has no power because injuries have sapped his strength.

The Angels make it a six inning game if they can get the lead. Problem I see is scoring runs with this one trick pony (Vlad) offense.

If they don’t win two at home they will go out in four just like the White Sox.

Andy Pettitte might be the best pitcher currently entering the playoffs. With Roy Oswalt and Roger Clemens backing him up, Houston should beat Atlanta in their annual meeting of two snoozing October teams.

After Houston puts the Braves to bed in three games, no I don’t think Tim Hudson can beat Houston, nor do I think the Braves bull pen can bail out sore shouldered John Smoltz, then it gets interesting for the Astros.

St. Louis will put the Padres out of their misery in four games. The Pads just don’t have enough offense to stay with Cards.

Mark Mulder might go seven wobbly innings, Chris Carpenter will pace himself through eight, but the Pads just don’t hit enough to make a dent in the St. Louis bull pen which is not what it is cranked up to be.

Jake Peavy can win a game in this series, but it better be the first because it will be the only game he will pitch.

Pedro Astacio and Adam Eaton are not strong enough to shut the Cards down during the game. If they could get the ball to the Padres bull pen perhaps in this short series it could get dicey for the Cards, but I just don’t see enough offense coming from the bats of the Padres.

In a five game series anything can happen. Sure the White Sox and the Angels will be sentimental favorites across the country to unseat the world champs and the Evil Empire, but you know what, Fox will get its wish and you’ll see the two biggest ratings eaters in the ALCS.

Houston will just be warming up for another classic meeting with the Cards, but this year they will have one of the best clutch post season performers, lefty Andy Pettitte, at full strength.

In a five game series momentum swings by the minute so put on your seat belt.

The rules have changed, the regular season mantra of wait until the next month no longer applies.

Baseball knows what it is doing. The five game series is the most exciting week of ball that is played.

Let’s enjoy it because then the rules change in the next round and baseball returns to a “hey we can afford to lose a game” best of seven format.

You signed up to play the game in October, these are the rules, let’s see who plays the best in the five gamer.

It will be an intense week!

0 comments

1 pachyderm { 10.04.05 at 2:31 pm }

Hey Marty,

The Redbirds are frying the Friars at the moment plus Carpenter left the game with an injury. In the ALDS, the laundry series between the Boston/Chicago a battle between bullpens will be an interesting of this series. For the Halos/Yanks, Anaheim’s mayor is actually attending Game One while the Angels fans are already making World Series plans, but the Yankees as underdogs are as scary as New York as favorites. Back to the NLDS, Houston seems scary with its rotation while the Braves are hoping for Andruw Jones continue to lead with Atlanta to post season respectiblity.

Hoping for next year to have post season “Right Off The Bat”, Edgar Martinez, A’s Fan

2 Anonymous { 10.05.05 at 12:21 am }

Marty

One of the best playoff teams in recent years was the Florida team that knocked out SF, Chicago, and NYY — they had a 25 man roster that all contributed — when they first came into PacBell no one really took them seriously, but they just had way too much for the Giants–great defense up the middle, all kinds of pitching, Pierre leading off creating runs, Piazza, Dontrelle and Urbina in relief—terrific manager —a real joy to watch–the final game when Beckett pitched on short rest against Pettite in the 6th game at Yankee Stadium was a real classic

3 Anonymous { 10.05.05 at 12:45 pm }

marty-

i’m not sure where your assertion that hudson can’t handle the astros comes from.

huddy had one appearance against the astros this year.

he pitched a complete game on 4.18, with 9 K and 4 hits and 0 runs allowed. (ok, so it was a long time ago)

the astros, seems to me, have done it, like the angels and braves and white sox, on pitching and defense. they do have five players with 20 or more home runs. morgan ensberg is an all-star caliber player, this year with .283 BA, 36 HR and 101 RBI. those are decent numbers. lance berkman is a proffesional hitter, with 90+ walks in 540+ ABs, but yielded “only” 24 home runs and 82 RBIs. those sound like Jermaine Dye type numbers, a great player for sure but this is not Manny and Ortiz, A-rod and Sheffield stuff here.

the stros next top producers, craig biggio and jason lane, sport .325 and .316 OBP respectively. they don’t walk, biggio with 32 in 590 PAs. they swing, and that’s gonna help hudson.

huddy will be fine, and give up 3 runs or less in 6-7 innings of work. he will have these guys grounding out to second base all afternoon.

the real question is ATLANTA’s OFFENSE, which like the Marlins, Angels, A’s, and White Sox is prone to dissapearing for stretches of time. if the braves can get prouction out of someone other than AJ they’re in it.

THESE WILL BE LOW SCORING GAMES

GO HUDSON!, GO MULDER!

4 marty { 10.05.05 at 1:06 pm }

Hudson hasn’t appeared to be himself all year I think he is still battling some physical issues. I’m rooting for him too, so let’s see what happens.
Angels better find some serious offense tonight because the Yankees can score some runs. How do you like Giambi? The classic A’s hitter (knows the strike zone) except he rips the first good pitch he sees with power.
Marty

5 pachyderm { 10.07.05 at 4:45 pm }

Hey Marty,

Smoltz pitch great last night what the Braves needed and hoping Huddy can learn from this great pitcher. Mulder did a good job against the Pads, San Diego’s only positive in this series is they’re outhitting the Cards. The Yankees and Randy hope keep the Halo offensive at bay, there is no Rally Monkey in the Bronx.
Edgar Martinez, A’s Fan

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